Three years, $17.5 million for Reggie Wayne

Posted by Mike Florio on March 13, 2012, 10:07 PM EDT

For the past few years, receiver Reggie Wayne’s discontent with his contract created the impression that he would leave as soon as his deal expired. As recently as last week, there was no evidence of any effort by the Colts to keep him. It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Wayne would be gone.

And, of course, he re-signed with the Colts only hours after becoming an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his 11-year career.

Adam Schefter of ESPN was the first to report the agreement. A league source tells PFT that Wayne’s deal is worth $17.5 million over three years, with $7.5 million guaranteed. (It’s unclear how much of it is fully guaranteed.)

Wayne’s decision to stay seems even more unusual in light of the fact that so many veteran players are gone, and the team will be in full-blown rebuilding mode. Also, it was believed that Wayne would be inclined to wait for Peyton Manning to make a decision, in order to possibly follow Manning to his new team.

Unless Peyton and the Colts work out a new deal, that won’t be happening.

46 responses to “Three years, $17.5 million for Reggie Wayne”

Wow so I watched that postgame interview on MNF for nothing? The teary goodbye and fans waiting around after to wish him off? Stunning. He had no idea he was coming back, and definitely didn’t expect Peyton to be gone but him re-signed.

Really??!!
Denver has the cap space and would easily have matched or beaten that offer. And Denver has way more going for it than Indy. Better running game, better defense (especially once they unload Freeney).

YES!!! Reggie, Reggie, Reggie… Wayne will be more valuable to Luck than any QB coach you could hire. Only Peyton himself could bring him into the NFL better. Love this keep, even if it doesn’t directly lead to W’s in the short term. Luck will be better in years 5 and 10 as a result of this move

So much for Wayne replacing Brandon Marshall in Miami. Bad news for the fins. Now how do the dolphins plan to lure manning. Dolphins need to sign Matt Flynn, now! If not they have completely failed! Without Wayne or Marshall, I’d be shocked if manning was actually considering Miami still!

Long time Dolphin Fan here. I did not get screwed. It is simply a Business Transaction that did not work out in our favor. Next! In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t affect me. I have a life outside of Fins Football.

Kinda disappointed by this, I was really looking forward to see where Wayne would end up. I thought he could have been a nice addition and valuable second or third option to team with eyes on contending. I think Wayne will be a good veteran presence for Luck and a rebuilding Colts team, but I am disappointed to see a great player re-sign with a rebuilding team at the end of his career.

As a selfish Colts fan – I wouldn’t have been upset had Reggie left, he had a get out of jail free card, but he chose to stay for whatever reason. And I’m glad, it’s a great presence to have for the out QB-elect Andrew Luck.

As a balanced Football fan/purest – Why Reggie why? You could have played for any team in the league! Maybe your play has diminished? Idk, maybe you can be The ‘Steve Smith’ to Lucks ‘Cam Newton’

Titans and cardinals move to the top…. sorry broncos but you don’t have a real #1 WR like Fitzgerald or Britt. I know there are other FA agents but after seeing how FA is shaping up I think Manning would rather choose a team with a legit #1 WR with the chance at getting a great/good #2 WR. The broncos will not be able to get two great WR in FA or the draft. I’m going to give the edge to the titans because of TE Cook and RB Johnson, they honestly have the better combination of weapons for him.

This Peyton tour taking a little extra time seems to be back-firing a little. Who else will whatever team bring in around him? Arizona’s most likely in the best position offensively. Denver? Miami without Marshall? Titans with a gimpy Britt? Better hurry…

A lot of people commenting dont understand the Colts family. Reggie is staying because the Colts need him. The fans worship him. And he loves it here. Hes going to help Luck more than any coach on the team. Hes also likely going to be able to say he played with 2 of the greatest QBs of all time.

Manning goes out and sees what money he can get after the huge contract is nullified by him being cut, and Irsay will match the lower contract he would have gotten elsewhere. Wayne sweetens the come back home pie.

Manning wants to stay in Indy and the franchise benefits from him never playing elsewhere. No wonder Manning said he couldn’t decide where to play. He was never going anywhere.

Really??!!
Denver has the cap space and would easily have matched or beaten that offer. And Denver has way more going for it than Indy. Better running game, better defense (especially once they unload Freeney).

Bad for Wayne. Bad for Denver.

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Denver has a good Defense??? Hmm, that’s news to me seeing they were ranked 20th in the league last year. Also, last year they gave up an average of 126.3 yards a game on the ground and gave up an average of 24.5 points a game. That’s not even an average defense for an NFL team. And as far as their running game, those numbers are inflated because that was all they could do…